Donald R. McClarey

Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three and happily married for 35 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.

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. Elisabetta wrote one book on Francis and probably wants continued access to write the final biography so she did not cross examine Pope Francis on his beautiful picture of the Cardinal Burke to Malta patron affair.
We need Popes to be cross examined by tough reporters who have guaranteed continued access….even if they cross examine him with tough questions after he responds. In e.g. “Witness to Hope” ( which had almost no mention of clergy sex abuse despite it being the media since 1985) George Weigel stated that John Paul was “the most informed man on earth” but never read newspapers. Several years ago Weigel said in his final book on John Paul that he had not known the extent of the sex abuse crisis until 2002. Which is it….he was the most informed man on earth or knew less than us and was the least informed? We need reporters of Popes who do not have their eye on being book writers on Popes ( who need Pope cooperation for their books). We need adversary questioners of Popes. Presidents and CEO’s face tough questions. Popes face friendly questions or one tough question with no follow up….often from people who want access next time…hence their no cross examination.

Whatever happened to the idea of principles before personalities? Or does that apply just to alcoholics in recovery? From the 12 and 12:
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“We simply couldn’t afford to take the chance of letting self-appointed members present themselves as messiahs…The promoter instinct in us might be our undoing….At this altitude (press, radio, films, and television), anonymity—100 percent anonymity—was the only possible answer. Here, principles would have to come before personalities, without exception.”
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I think the Church is full of drunks – people drunk on their own EGOs – Edging God Out ( we are all guilty to varying degrees, but it worsens at higher levels). Sadly, this has been the case for 2000 years. Only God could have held it together for this long, and He did it in spite of being edged on out.

This really does no more than reiterate the Holy Father’s concluding remarks tot he Synod: “Many commentators, or people who talk, have imagined that they see a disputatious Church where one part is against the other, doubting even the Holy Spirit, the true promoter and guarantor of the unity and harmony of the Church – the Holy Spirit who throughout history has always guided the barque, through her Ministers, even when the sea was rough and choppy, and the ministers unfaithful and sinners.

And, as I have dared to tell you , [as] I told you from the beginning of the Synod, it was necessary to live through all this with tranquillity, and with interior peace, so that the Synod would take place cum Petro and sub Petro (with Peter and under Peter), and the presence of the Pope is the guarantee of it all.”

Pope John Paul II knew more than you, “bill bannon, even in 2002. Unlike you, he had a sense of proportion. And he knew the extent of false accusations of priests far, far better than you do even today. (Not just females lie about “rape!”.)